Julian Davis Reid: Notes of Movement and Rest

Julian Davis Reid is an artist-theologian who uses words and music to invite us into the restful life we were created to live.

A pianist, producer, and composer, he is a founding member of the jazz-electronic fusion group The JuJu Exchange (with Nico Segal and Nova Zaii). The JuJu Exchange is an instrumental group that blends acoustic and digital music to cultivate wonder and trust. Their first release, Exchange (2017), debuted at #1 on iTunes Jazz Charts. In 2018, Julian led the effort to write a commissioned oratorio for Fulcrum Point New Music entitled Price of Peace, which addresses Chicago’s complex racial and geographic past in order to ask the listener: “Do we really want to pay the price for peace?” The band’s most recent release is The Eternal Boombox EP (2020), which is a musical accompaniment to the stages of grief. It emerged from the band’s navigation of the pandemic along with the rest of us. The JuJu Exchange has performed across the country at various jazz festivals, has conducted master classes at the Apple Store and for the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and has been featured in TEDxChicago and Chicago Ideas Week.

Along with The JuJu Exchange, Julian leads contemplative retreats called Notes of Rest, where he places meditations from a Bible passage or piece of Black writing on a bed of music for the sake of promoting rest, contemplation, and creativity amongst communities. This ministry emerged out of his growing sense that the Global North needs to rediscover the liberating possibilities of stillness.

Julian is thankful to be back serving the local church in Chicago. He has continually played in church throughout his life, and has directed for a wide array of congregations, from non-denominational to Roman Catholic. Now he serves in the music ministries at Renewal Church of Chicago and First United Methodist Church of Oak Park.

Julian has been blessed to collaborate or share the stage with many artists spanning various literary and musical genres, from jazz to classical to hip-hop to gospel. This list includes Chance the Rapper, Jennifer Hudson, Derrick Hodge, Vic Mensa, Peter CottonTale, Tank and the Bangas, Jamila Woods, Dixson, Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets, the Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society, Rev. Dr. Dwight Andrews, Tiff Joy, Dr. Jimmie Abbington, Dr. Alysia Nicole Harris, Zora Howard, Josephine Lee and Chicago Children’s Choir and Andrew Bird.

Julian has performed and spoken throughout the country and around the world, and he has released three studio albums, the latest being the solo piano project Rest Assured. He is also in an artist residency through City Seminary of New York. Julian earned his M.Div. at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and his B.A. in philosophy at Yale University. He and his wife Carmen are based in his hometown Chicago.